Four Capacities Every Great Leader Needs

The following is a great article on leadership that was sent my way. It is written by Tony Schwartz.

Develop a work environment that compels employees to give the highest value to your company. by Tony Schwartz


WHEN I WAS a very young journalist, full of bravado and barely concealed insecurity, Ed Kosner, editor of Newsweek, hired me to do a job I wasn't sure I was capable of doing. Thrown into deep water, I had no choice but to swim. But I also knew he wouldn't let me drown. His confidence buoyed me.

Some years later, I was hired away by Arthur Gelb, the managing editor of The New York Times. This time, I was seduced by Gelb's contagious exuberance about being part of a noble fraternity committed to putting out the world's greatest newspaper.

Over the last dozen years, I've worked with scores of CEOs and senior executives to help them build more engaged, high-performance cultures by energizing their employees. Along the way, I've landed on four key capacities that show up, to one degree or another, in the most inspiring leaders I've met.

1. Great leaders recognize strengths in us that we don't always yet fully see in ourselves.

This is precisely what Kosner did with me. He provided belief where I didn't yet have it, and I trusted his judgment more than my own. It's the Pygmalion effect: expectations become self-fulfilling.

Both positive and negative emotions feed on themselves. In the absence of Kosner's confidence, I simply wouldn't have assumed I was ready to write at that level.

Because he seemed so sure I could - he saw better than I did how my ambition and relentlessness would eventually help me prevail - I wasted little energy in corrosive worry and doubt.

Instead, I simply invested myself in getting better, day by day, step by step. Because we can achieve excellence in almost anything we practice with sufficient focus and intention, I did get better, which fed my own confidence and satisfaction, and my willingness to keep pushing myself.

2. Rather than simply trying to get more out of us, great leaders seek to understand and meet our needs, above all a compelling mission beyond our immediate self-interest, or theirs.

Great leaders understand that how they make people feel, day in and day out, has a profound influence on how they perform.

We each have a range of core needs - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Great leaders focus on helping their employees meet each of these needs, recognizing that it helps them to perform better and more sustainably.

Arthur Gelb helped me meet not just my emotional need to be valued, but also my spiritual need to be engaged in a mission bigger than my own success. Far too few leaders take the time to figure out what they truly stand for, beyond the bottom line, and why we should feel excited to work for them.

3. Great leaders take the time to clearly define what success looks like, and then empower and trust us to figure out the best way to achieve it.

One of our core needs is for self-expression. One of the most demoralizing and infantilizing experiences at work is to feel micromanaged. The job of leaders is not to do the work of those they lead, but to serve as Chief Energy Officer - to free and fuel us to bring the best of ourselves to work everyday.

Part of that responsibility is defining, in the clearest possible way, what's expected of us - our concrete deliverables. This is a time-consuming and challenging process, and most leaders I've met do very little of it. When they do it effectively, the next step for leaders is to get out of the way.

That requires trusting that employees will figure out for themselves the best way to get their work done, and that even though they'll take wrong turns and make mistakes, they learn and grow stronger along the way.

4. The best of all leaders have the capacity to embrace their own opposites, most notably vulnerability alongside strength, and confidence balanced by humility.

This capacity is so powerful because all of us struggle, whether we're aware of it or not, with our self-worth. We're each vulnerable to believing, at any given moment, that we're not good enough.

Great leaders don't feel the need to be right, or to be perfect, because they've learned to value themselves in spite of shortcomings they freely acknowledge. In turn, they bring this generous spirit to those they lead.

The more leaders make us feel valued, in spite of our imperfections, the less energy we will spend asserting, defending and restoring our value, and the more energy we have available to create value.

All four capacities are grounded in one overarching insight. Great leaders recognize that the best way to get the highest value is to give the highest value.

Tony Schwartz is the president and CEO of The Energy Project and the author of The Way We're Working Isn't Working.

Let us know your thoughts on this article!

The Value of Email Marketing In A Social Media World

Today's post is an article written by Go-to-Market Strategies. Trying to determine the right marketing mix is on most business owners minds today and the information below on email marketing and social media will help give you some guidance.

Despite the surging popularity of social media, experts agree that email marketing is here to stay. What remains mysterious for many marketers, however, is how to make room for both email and social media in their marketing strategy.

Many companies have a clear preference for social media; they believe email is too competitive and easy to overdo. Other companies are sticking with their email strategy, maintaining that social media doesn’t give them enough control over their message...and can't be easily measured.

They’re both right.

We have a few tips that are easy to implement to get you started on the important task of combining the strengths of these tactics to maximize your reach.

• Create relevant and compelling (or “shareworthy”) content. The best way to ensure your email will be read and shared within the social media channel is to include valuable content in virtually every email promotion. Giving your email recipients information they can use will build credibility and interest. Nothing improves your email campaign results more than your trustworthiness. So make sure you earn it every time with great content.

• Make it easy for your audience to share your content with their network. Your email subscriber wants their clients to read your latest enewsletter. You’ve won them over—your content is shareworthy! What now? Include SWYN (Share With Your Network) links on all the web pages your outbound emails link to (see our Share with Facebook and Tweet This links at the bottom of this article). Also, post a link to your newsletter content on your Facebook and Twitter pages. This is the best way to reach a subscriber too overwhelmed by the contents of their own inbox. Or, in case a prospect finds you on Facebook first, make sure you have an link on your Facebook page to your enewsletter sign-up form so they can subscribe from there.

• Let your customers convince your prospects to buy. Social media conversation can inform your email content in a revolutionary way. By inviting customer participation in polls, surveys, and ratings within your social media channels, you can get immediate access to customer feedback. Then leverage what you have learned from this process in your email campaigns by including customer ratings and testimonials for the products or services you are promoting. There is nothing more powerful to a prospect than your customer’s own voice! (Tip: Consider testing this technique with subscribers who have opened your emails, but not yet purchased from you.)

The above ideas will help lay the foundation for your successful integration of email and social media marketing. As you get started, remember that content is king. Content that is relevant, timely, and valuable to your audience. The first step in any marketing strategy is to build quality content. Once you have quality content, do not restrict its use between your email and social media campaigns.

Savvy marketers must leverage the strengths of each approach to compensate for their weaknesses. Email and social media complement each other quite well, and if used effectively, will transform your marketing strategy.

Let us know what you are doing with email marketing and social media.

Small Biz Bill Becomes Law

While we wait to see if the Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire here are a few points on the Small Business Job Act of 2010 which was signed into law on September 27, 2010. The legislation contains several provisions designed to ensure that small businesses have access to adequate credit. The Act also contains targeted short-term tax relief for small businesses.

A $30 billion credit facility for community banks, backed b y the Treasury, is designed to goose lending conditions, while teh muscle of the Small Business Administration is being augmented throught eh expansion of the SBA's loan limits. Investors were also targeted through the legislation, as a provision was put in place for the balance of 2010 that will eliminate all capital gains on "key small businesses" as long as the investments are held for five years or longer.

Regarding the SBA program, the caps on both 7(a) and 504 loans were permanently escalated to %5 million from $3 million, while manufacturing related loans were bumped uo to $5.5 million from $4 million. Moreover, SBA Express loans were temporarily boosted to $1 million from $350,000.

Other components of the bill included an initiative designed to augment state programs providing credit to small businesses, on top of multiple tax cuts, 16 in all, meant to spur investment.

Specific tax changes include:

Increased IRC Section 179 expense limits - effective for 2010 and 2011, the maximum amount that a business is able to expense under IRC Section 179 is increased to $500,000 (without the legislation, the expense limit would have been $250,000 for 2010 and $25,000 for 2011). The $500,000 limit is reduced if capital expenditures exceed $2 million. The Act also temporarily expands the application of Section 179 to up to $250,000 of certain real property (for example, qualified restaurant property).

First-year "bonus" depreciation extended - The Act extends the additional 50% first-year depreciation deduction that was in effect for 2008 and 2009 for one year, to qualified property acquired and placed in service during 2010.

Small business stock exclusion increased - The Act temporarily increases the exclusion percentage for qualified small business stock purchased by individuals to 100%, and does not treat the excluded gain as an alternative minimum tax preference item. Therefore, subject to certain limits, you'll pay no regular tax or alternative minimum tax on the sale of qualified small business stock acquired at original issue after September 27, 2010, and before January 1, 2011, provided you hold the stock for at least five years.

Small businesses get enhanced general business credit - Eligible small businesses (generally, non-publicly traded corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships with gross receipts averaging $50 million or less) will be able to carry back excess general business credits up to five years (instead of one) in 2010, and will be able to use the general business credit to offset both regular and alternative minimum tax liability.

Health insurance costs will reduce self-employment tax - If you're self-employed and pay health insurance premiums for you or your family, you get a break on your 2010 self-employment tax (the tax that you calculate on Form 1040, Schedule SE). That's because, for 2010 only, the deduction you get for the cost of health insurance for yourself and your family will apply in calculating your earnings for purposes of self-employment tax as well as in reducing your income for tax purposes.

Cell phones no longer listed property - Effective 2010, cell phones are not considered listed property, significantly reducing the substantiation rules and depreciation limits that apply when cell phones are used for business purposes.

New reporting requirements for rental property expenses - With some exceptions, starting in 2011, if you receive rental income from real property, you'll be required to file an information return (Form 1099) when you make payments totaling $600 or more to a service provider (such as a plumber, painter, or accountant) for rental property expenses.

Portion of nonqualified annuity can be annuitized - Beginning in 2011, if you have a nonqualified annuity (an annuity that is held outside of a qualified retirement plan or IRA), you can annuitize only a portion of the annuity, provided the annuitization period is for 10 years or more, or is for the lives of one or more individuals. The portion of the annuity or contract that is annuitized will be treated as a separate contract, and the investment in the annuity will be allocated n a pro-rate basis.

For more details check with your CPA or tax planner.

Failure to Launch: Reasons Company Strategies Don’t Succeed

Today's post is written by David Mead of Mead Consulting. We couldn't agree more with what Dave has to say.

In 2008, I heard a presentation by Michael Canic of Bridgeway Leadership who discussed the reasons that strategies fail. He quoted statistics that over 65% of all strategies fail to reach expectations. Why do so many business strategies fail? Below are some key reasons. Knowing the barriers to successful planning and execution is the first step. Clients that follow our recommendations have been significantly outperformed the competition. We like to say, “A good plan, well executed, beats a great plan, poorly executed, every time.” Contact us if you would like more information.

1. No clear definition of success

Fuzzy goals lead to fuzzy outcomes. While it seems obvious, many organizations simply don’t articulate the specific goal of a business strategy. If the goal of your customer intimacy strategy is to form deeper customer relationships, that’s fuzzy. If the goal is to increase customer retention by 10 percent and increase annual revenue per customer by $10,000 and net profit by $1,000, that’s clear. Here, deeper customer relationships may be the mechanism to achieve the goal.

2. Too many goals

When everything is a priority, nothing gets accomplished. Many so-called strategic plans have too many goals, objectives, success drivers, strategies, initiatives and so on. Worse, it’s not clear how these various appendages are linked. Is it any surprise these plans sit on shelves and collect dust? Choose to do fewer things much better.

3. Metrics and Alignment - Either no metrics or vague metrics

Many plans are simply a brainstormed list of things to get done by unspecified people at indeterminate times. A plan with specifics outlines who will do what by when. It takes into account the sequencing and timing of tasks, activities and resources. Make certain that the goals of everyone in the organization are aligned to the few key objectives.

4. Visibility - Progress isn’t measured and managed

Ever notice how plans placed in the spotlight flourish while those left in the dark shrivel? Any plan worth executing is worth tracking. A monthly meeting with a tight agenda can quickly determine what actions have been taken; what progress has been made; what will be accomplished over the next month and by whom, and what, if any, challenges have emerged. This builds commitment, accountability and confidence in the process.

5. You lack the right people

Some of those nice people who work for you may not be the right people to get the job done. That statement makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Many have been loyal, are committed to the culture, and may be friends and family. However, If you are truly committed to winning, or achieving success - however you define it - then at some point you have to take a long, hard, honest look at the capabilities of your people. Point them in the right direction, support them, develop them – give them a fair chance to succeed. But if they can’t get it done, then your responsibility is to get people who can.

6. Flexibility – Failure to update the plan to stay real

Reserve the right to do what makes sense. Plans are based on assumptions that can change over time. If they do change, then the plan may need to change. A quarterly “recalibration” meeting is a good forum to test your assumptions and determine which, if any, have changed. The meeting may result in either a revalidation or redesign of the plan. It ensures the plan stays real and relevant.

7. Reaction to Failure - Failure is met with indifference or an inquisition

Is your team serious about its definition of success? Your response to failure sends a clear message about your commitment to winning. Just as importantly, it sends a message about your credibility. Do you ignore a failed initiative and move on to the next big thing (which conveys that you really weren’t that committed and you shouldn’t be taken seriously)? Do you look for scapegoats (which communicates that you don’t take personal responsibility and can’t be trusted)? Or do you first look in the mirror, take responsibility, then publicly commit to getting it right, and effectively engage your people to make it happen? Your choice speaks volumes about who you are as a leader.

Let us know your thoughts.

It Does Not Have to be Lonely at the Top (in fact it shouldn't be!)

Today's post is written by Bob Dodge, Sr. Partner at The Alternative Board - Denver West.

As a business owner, you have no doubt experienced how lonely it can be at the Top. It doesn’t have to be lonely, though. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto to talk with. You don’t have to go it alone; in fact, there are several reasons you should involve (listen to) others.

Talk with your employees to find out:

1. if they understand why you expect them to complete critical tasks. If they are not motivated, no amount of training will help! The must have the desire to do so.
   
   
2. if they have the capabilities (time, tools, skills and resources) to accomplish what is needed for the organization. Telling your team to “just do it” if they lack these capabilities will only frustrate them, and eventually you. You and your entire team will benefit from discussing your vision and priorities; providing opportunities for employees to learn. Demonstrate to your employees through your actions that you are committed to these critical success factors.
   
   
3. if they know the consequences of their actions or lack thereof. If employees don’t understand what is in it “for them”, they’ll never perform. Be prepared to provide those (positive as well as negative) consequences to avoid problems down the road. In short, walk the talk.
   
   As a result, you might hear some great ideas to improve the business! After all, they are the ones actually doing the work!
   
   

Talk with your customer to jointly consider how they experience your product or service:

1. Maybe there are additional services you might provide that customers would value (and pay for). These are opportunities to capture additional revenue.
   
   
2. You might discover that your company is currently spending time, money or other resources on activities and features that your customers don’t value.
   
   At least they’ll appreciate the gesture to at least look at the business relationship from their perspective.
   

Talk with your peers:

You might be surprised that other leaders face similar challenges as you. Regular conversations with these executives provide a safe way to explore ideas and learn from one another.


Talk with your coach:

Consider getting a coach to help you explore and accomplish taking your business to a new level. A good coach will help you listen to yourself!

These examples of communicating are all actually acts of listening. Most business leaders can and do inform, motivate, sell, and convince. Effective leaders have also mastered listening! How could listening to your employees, customers, peers or coach affect your business? Would you feel like less of a Lone Ranger?

Strength in Numbers

Wow, it has been a while since we have posted. Please accept my apologies. The key word though is "we"! For about a year now, I have been working on a plan that allows me to scale the business with people who are just as passionate and committed to helping the small business community as I am. I wanted another owner in the business. Someone with passion, skills, and skin in the game. Commitment and accountability. This effort has has taken place to help me achieve my Personal and Company Vision.

I am so excited to welcome and introduce you to Bob Dodge, Senior Partner in The Alternative Board - Denver West. Bob is experience with the opportunities and concerns that challenge top business owners and leaders. His professional career spans more than 25 yeas as an executive, consultant, facilitator, coach and trusted business advisor to leaders in a variety of industries.

In late September and early October we will be running a series of educational events where you can come meet Bob (and see me) and hear what he has to say. You'll definitely walk out with value.

Now that Bob is on board hopefully we can do a better job updating our blog more frequently!

Welcome Bob!

If Your are a Victim; You are Guilty

This was written by my good friend and colleague John Dini, in San Antonio.

Let's say you own a small Italian Restaurant. Fifteen tables. Pasta, Pizza, beer and wine. Not really a white tablecloth place. More like plastic red and white check tablecloths with Chianti bottles and drippy candles. On a good Saturday night you might take in $2,500. You average about $400,000 a year in sales. You are closed Mondays, because everyone in the family needs a day off.

One Tuesday morning you come in early to start food prep for the week. The mail is piled on the floor where the mailman pushed it through the slot yesterday. You sit at one of the tables drinking a cup of coffee as you open the mail. Routine stuff. There is the produce vendor's statement.A postcard from a regular customer on vacation. An offer or two for new credit cards. There is a letter from a credit card processor; Visa or MasterCard. It informs you that a number of customer cards have been used fraudulently. They have traced the origin of the security breach to your restaurant, and you owe them $170,000 under your merchant agreement, plus penalties. Your issuing bank will be contacting you regarding the collection terms, and to inform you of the additional costs.

You are out of business.

This isn't a joke. It's not an Urban Legend. It is happening every day to scores of small businesses nationally, and the number is increasing rapidly. PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance is a term that should strike terror into the heart of every small business person who accepts credit cards. If you've been ignoring the warning information from your bank or merchant processor, or if you think you have it taken care of, think again.

A restaurant here in San Antonio recently went to the newspaper to ask for a story warning every customer of theirs to get new credit cards. This restaurant was hit for over $500,000 in charges, plus penalties (more on those later.) The most bitter pill to swallow is that this restaurant did it right. They have the latest version of a POS (Point of Sale) register system. Their network was behind an up-to-date firewall. Their credit card data was encrypted. Nothing saved them from a sophisticated international fraud industry that remains one step ahead of security techniques.

Some fraud is low-tech. A waiter takes cell-phone photos of cards as he runs them, and mails them to an online fence who pays him a couple of dollars per number. A hotel is missing boxes of old credit card slips. (That happened last week in San Antonio- 17,000 customers affected.) The most pernicious, however, is the Internet hack. The threat encompasses every business; retail, service or B2B that accepts credit cards.
Organized thieves, many of them in Eastern Europe, spend all day "pinging" IP addresses in the US. When one hits a firewall, or more commonly, hits an electronic cash register, processing terminal, PC or a server that isn't behind a firewall, they blast a dictionary of keywords at it to identify whether there is any credit card information on the other end. If one of these words gets a hit, they begin the hack, inserting a program that duplicates any card number run through the system and transmitting it to their servers. It takes seconds for the whole process.

Typically they will collect for some time, months or in some cases years, before they put the cards into use. It gives them economies of scale. With faster fraud identification systems, many have started "real time" usage, duplicating cards in Europe or Asia and selling them the same day.

Illegal web sites post buyer requirements; how many cards, issuer type, credit limits sought and prices to be paid. ("Need 200 AMEX Gold or Platinum- pay $50 each") Other sites will tell you the current available limit on any card number. Still other sites sell stolen numbers in a daily auction, batched by type and credit limit availability.

Your data is encrypted? Law enforcement sources tell me that decryption programs to defeat the current levels of credit card security can be bought for $125 on the web and installed in 15 minutes.

When I tell small business owners this story, they usually say "But my credit card company says I'm not liable for fraudulent charges." That is true if you are a consumer. If you are a merchant, you have already accepted the liability. You agreed to comply with all PCI security protocols. Those protocols, however, are so loosely defined, and so complex, that if you are defrauded it essentially means you weren't in compliance. In other words, if you are a victim; you are guilty.

When cards are used fraudulently, here is what happens. The card processor begins an algorithm to cross reference the fraudulent cards with the places they were used. In minutes, twenty cards cross at one point- Anthony's Italian Trattoria in Peoria Illinois. (If there is really an Anthony's in Peoria, I apologize. I checked to see that there wasn't. It's supposed to be fictional.) You are proven guilty.

What happens next is a nightmare. First, every customer who charged something at your business (in a time frame of potential risk determined by the processor) must be notified that their card may have been compromised, and they should get a new one. The charge for that is $30 per customer. It is billed to your bank issuer, who can either pass it on to you or eat it. Guess which one they will choose?

(A quick aside here. If you are like almost all small business people, your accounts are concentrated at one bank. Your loan agreements usually allow the bank to deduct amounts owed them from ANY account you have there, business or personal.)

Then they have to do the forensic investigation, to determine how the cards were stolen and the potential losses. The cost of a forensic examination is currently set by PCI at $10,000 minimum. All this is in addition to any fraudulent usage, which is directly billed to you. The bank may choose to let you continue operating, if you can afford to let them withhold everything charged to credit cards in your business until repayment is made.

If you think I am being alarmist, check out the PCI video at TAB member Don Douglas' Comply Guard Networks website. (This isn't a plug. Few small business owners could afford Don's services, which are geared to corporate and institutional customers.) The other examples I cite here are from my own experience locally in the last month, and they are not the only ones I know.

What can you do? Checking a driver's license, which many people consider security, doesn't help with this problem. That only protects you from being back charged for a fraudulent usage. That is one transaction, not hundreds or thousands.

You could stop accepting credit card, but for many of us that isn't feasible.

Here is what you CAN do, in simple terms:

First- Spend the money to upgrade your system. I've talked to POS vendors at length about this. They tell me that the usual openings, lack of a firewall, shared hubs with wireless hot spots, and out of date software, cost between $1,000 and $3,000 to change. It still isn't fool proof, but it is like the burglar who was asked why he didn't hit houses when he knew there were only timers on the lights. "Because the house next door doesn't even have timers." The cost is minimal in comparison to the deterrent factor.

Second- DO NOT STORE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS ON TRANSACTIONS ANYWHERE, EVER! Many businesses don't even know that their systems are keeping numbers. With cheap data storage, some have no erasure process at all. One restaurant locally, with hundreds of seats and a booming business, recently found out that they had every credit card number for every transaction in the last ten years residing in their hard drive. One hack, and they could have been hit for millions in notification fees alone.

If you have a customer dispute or question, you can get the information from the credit card company. Yes, it may take forever on the phone to wade through the process, but how bad is that compared to losing your business?

There are some major things that the industry could do, but for now they've chosen to just shift the liability to small business owners who are generally unaware of what has been done to them. In this case, such ignorance can ruin you.

If this is news to you, it is probably news to your business owner friends. I have been passing this information on to every business owner I know. Most have been surprised by it. Do a friend a favor, and give them a heads up. Ask them "Are your computers PCI complaint?" If they look at you blankly, send them here.

Mid Year Sales Planning

The following was written by my good friend Chip Doyle, a Sandler Sales Franchisee.
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He who fails to plan is planning to fail - Winston Churchill

Prospecting plans are more than a necessary part of a salesperson's tool kit. The planning process creates accountability and a sense of teamwork for salespeople. Good plans also improve the salesperson's outlook and motivation. By measuring the results of a plan, salespeople can identify what's working and what isn't and adjust accordingly. And last but not least, planning and accountability insures activities that fill the pipeline are not subordinated to client fulfillment work. This one drives me nuts. As an example, seller-doers (people like CPA's, consultants, architects, engineers, etc) pray for business but as soon as they get some, they complain that they don't have time for business development. This is just a sophisticated way of admitting they don't have a plan.

You can be a part of your own plan or part of someone else's - David Sandler

The year is almost half over and odds are you've made some progress towards your prospecting and sales plan. If you don't have a prospecting plan yet, stop reading here and start planning!

Planning has Pitfalls

Unfortunately there are predictable traps that I see clients fall into related to planning. Occasionally they will use the planning process to procrastinate action. I also see salespeople that fail to adjust plans over time based on new information or tracked results. Planning is not a one-time activity. It's a recurring process. Not every week, but certainly every six months.

More frequently I see plans with no priorities or activity sequences specified. John Argenti, author and founder of the Strategic Planning Society said "A plan is a list of actions arranged in whatever sequence is thought likely to achieve an objective." Make sure you assign priorities or some sequence in your planning process.

"It is almost always the decision maker that makes the decision work, not the choice which makes the decision work." - David Sandler

I also see companies attempt to build consensus around an ideal plan. It never happens. There's no need to try to build the perfect plan. The key is to get your salespeople on the right course so they can realize the benefits of the planning process.

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We are halfway through the year. How are your sales? How are they compared to plan? What are you going to do to modify or create your plan?

What is Motivation?

The art of motivating people starts with learning how to influence individuals' behavior. Once you understand this, you are more likely to gain the results that both the organization and its employees want.

Motivation is the will to act. It was once assumed that motivation had to be injected from outside, but it is now understood that everyone is motivated by several differing forces. Int he workplace, see to influence your staff to align their own motivation with the needs of the organization.

To release the full potential of employees, organization are rapidly moving away from "command and control" and towards "advise and consent" as ways of motivating. This change of attitude began when employers recognized that regarding good work is more effective than threatening punitive measures for bad work.

Self-motivation is long lasting. Inspire self-motivated staff further by trusting them to work on their own initiatives and encouraging them to take responsibility for entire tasks. For demotivated staff members, find out what would motivate them, and implement whatever help you can. Highly motivated individuals are vital to supply organizations with the new initiatives that are necessary in the competitive business world.

Who do you need to motivate? Yourself, managers, colleagues, and subordinates. Each are motivated in their own way. If you want a detailed assessment of what motivates your people click here or send an email to blair@tabdenverwest.com.

Your persuasion and influence can be used to motivate yourself and others. Just remember, true motivation has to come from within.

Ready...Set...Wait? Leading Indicators and Small Business

The following was written by my good friend John Dini in San Antonio. I couldn't resist re-posting.

In the last few weeks I've talked to a score of small business owners who say that things are improving for their companies. Several have been involved in trade shows that had record attendance. A few manufacturers are seeing a strong uptick in orders. Retailers are experiencing increased traffic.

We all know that the businesses who are positioned to move early in a growing market get the jump on those who aren't, but how do you know whether this is the time to move? Most entrepreneurs behave like "retail" or individual investors in the stock market. They are too late into a bull market to capture most of the profitability, and too slow to get out in a down slide to avoid most of the losses.

The stock market professionals say that when huge volumes of retail money (from IRAs, 401Ks and other self-directed sources) begin pouring in, the rally is probably over. What worries me is that in the last 60 days I've met 5 people who told me they "didn't need the income" from their job or business, because trading their personal portfolio was making them enough money to live on. They have apparently forgotten 2000. I know several successful individuals who would have retired years ago if they hadn't been suckered into the tech bubble right at the end.

So do you start looking at expansion of your small business now, or wait until you are completely certain, and probably miss the bulk of the opportunity? How do you know when it is the right time to bet on the economy?

The first rule is to stop reading the newspaper, and turn off the financial news stations. For the vast majority of small business owners, what happens in "the economy" means nothing compared to what happens in your local market.

I have a client who owns a machine shop. Nationwide there is clearly a surplus of manufacturing employees. In our local market, a new plant by a big publicly traded corporation has begun recruiting. It doesn't matter to my client whether manufacturing unemployment nationally is 10% or 13% or 20%. Locally, there aren't any skilled employees available. Would this be a smart time for him to cut wages or benefits? Of course not. Regardless of the national situation, he is in a dog fight for good workers.

Business owners need local measurements of what is happening in their industry. These are typically not published anywhere. You need to develop and track your own. Establish relationships with other business owners who are "upstream" of you in the food chain. They may not be a precise predictor, but they can give you a better idea of whether an uptick in business is an anomaly or a trend.

For example, a subcontractor to residential subdivision builders maintains a relationship with a civil engineering firm that serves the same market. While his contracts for home construction vary according to monthly sales, when the civil engineer starts platting whole new subdivisions the trend is longer term. The civil engineer talks to the real estate agents who represent large parcels. He wants to know when the residential developers are negotiating for new tracts of land. It doesn't matter much to either of them what the national numbers are. They don't do business nationally.

A fast-service restaurateur of light (frankly- hip) food follows approval of financing for new apartment complexes. An office furniture dealer tracks leasing rates. A pest control company tracks the backlog in residential sales. A cash register dealer tracks announcements of new retail centers.

Most small businesses thrive according to the skills of the owner. If you have 1% market share, you can grow to 2% market share and do well even in a shrinking market. Leading indicators can tell you when it is time to focus on taking existing business from competitors, and when it is time to put your efforts towards chasing new business.

Inspiring a Shared Vision

Regardless of the economic times, leaders need to inspire a shared vision - for their key stakeholders - employees, customers, partners and potentially the communities where you live and work.

Visions don't hvae to be grand designs in order to motivate and inspire people. A vision pulls people forward. It projects a clear image of a possible future. It generates the enthusiasm and energy to strive toward that goal.

• Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision had the power to better the lives of us all and to change the course of our nation.
  
  
• Winston Churchill's vision had the power to pull the British people through the darkest days of World War II when they fought Hitler alone.

All inspiring visions offer the following attributes:

• Ideal - a high standard to aspire to
• Unique - pride in being different, an identity
• Image - a concept or mental picture made real or tangible through descriptive language
• Future Oriented - a map of the journey and statement of the goal ahead
• Common Purpose - a way people can join together

In order to inspire and motivate, a vision must be communicated in a clear and lively form. It myst be expressed in a simple and direct way that moves and touches people. Leaders breathe life into their visions and values by using things such as metaphors, examples, quotations, analogies, slogans and anecdotes.

When leaders effectively communicate avision, it has very powerful results. When visions are effectively communicated you will see -

• Job satisfaction
• Commitment and loyalty
• Clarity about organizational values
• Pride in hte organization
• Organizational productivity

Is your vision inspiring your team?

On Growth: Be a River

I read the following by Mark Sanborn and instantly wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy!

I've been listening to a CD of a panel presentation from a conference I recently attended. The participants were all long-time friends and colleagues in the speaking business. They are all highly successful in their respective fields and I've seen great growth in them and their careers over the years.

The insights and perspectives they shared were very valuable and I have benefited from their collective wisdom.

In listening, I was reminded of something very important about highly successful people.

First, they invest regularly and significantly in their own growth.

I know each of these individuals and they have spent serious time and money in seeking out the best resources, whether professional associations, coaches or educational experiences.

Second, they become conduits of what they've learned.

Each freely shares what they've learned with colleagues and clients. Their exceptional expertise has created great demand for their services. Not only have they profited from their skills and abilities, but they have been willing to help others who desire to do the same.

They have become rivers.

Highly successful people are more concerned with their growth than their comfort; they are more committed to learning than leisure. That means they invest in learning and development.

But they don't stop there. Not only do they share; they increase their expertise and abilities in the sharing. A wonderful synergy takes place when they help others. People learn from the successful, but the successful learn not just from the people they teach but from the teaching process itself.

The lesson, if you aspire to become and stay successful: be a river.

Are Things Really as Bad as They Say?

In a recent Board meeting (consisting of small business owners) we had a conversation about the state of the economy. The question on the table was “are things really as bad as “they” say”? While the news out of Washington and most everything else in the press is negative the Board found reasons to be optimistic!

In spite of everything, small business owners find ways to grow their businesses and become financially successful. This economic swing is no different. Yes, business is run differently and won’t go back to the “old ways” but there are people out there making money in a down economy (including these Business Owners).

The economy will come back! What it will look like remains a question but it will come back. While unemployment is “high (9.7%)” compared with what we have seen in the past, the fact is we still have a lot of people working – 90% of the population!

At the end of the day, it is about remaining optimistic and looking for opportunities. While you need to keep on top of the economic news, there is no need to blame the economy. Find new and innovative ways to run your business. Small business owners (and Americans as a whole) have always persevered during difficult times.

Here is the message from one group of very successful business owners – focus, focus, focus!

Share your thoughts.

Help Great People Do Great Things

Last week at the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Denver luncheon, the keynote speaker was Jerre Stead, President and CEO of IHS. IHS is closing in on $1 Billion in revenue. Since 2005 the company has made 33 acquisitions. Since completing its IPO in 2005, the company revenues have more than doubled and EBITDA has grown about fourfold. SUffice to say, their performance over the past few years is worth noting.

Jerre Stead's message to the audience was straightforward - The Role of the CEO is to "Help Great People do Great Things." He then described five principles that he uses to operate IHS.

1. People are the only sustainable competitive advantage
   Treat them all with equal dignity and respect. There are no "perks" for anyone at IHS.
   
   
2. 100% trust of every person in the company
   At one point, Stead ordered the detailed IHS policy manuals (with hundreds and hundreds of policies) be shredded. "Do we need guidelines? Absolutely! But, if you let people use their best judgment, you never know how great they can be."
   
   
3. Invest in training and development
   "If I had an extra dollar, I'd spend it on training and development." It's the best investment you can make and its the surest way to reduce involuntary turnover.
   
   
4. Facts are our friends
   
   • Not masses of information, but "actionable facts".
   • "Give me three important facts that will help me make a decision."
   • One of Steads comments was that all proposed decisions at IHS require the generation of a "one-pager." On the one-pager is the summary of the proposal, what decision you are looking for and "three facts that will help me make the decision."
   • You can always ask for more detail, but get the key facts and help me make the decision.
   • You never have enough facts, but if you wait to make the decision until you have all the facts, it typically is too late.
     
     
5. Have an intense internal and external intellectual curiosity about customers
   All senior meetings start with some interaction about customers.
   
   
6. Reward ... Reward ... Reward ...
   HE said there were five principles, but he added a sixth very important one. Remember to reward employees continually for company success.
   

Share your thoughts on Jerre Stead's key principles.